L'âge de L'amour
by Lunar-L
Summary: Chat saves Marinette from an akuma and then she returns the favour in the form of saving him from the public's wrath. They form a sweet friendship from it which becomes less platonic every day. Began as separate prompts from MariChat May 2018 which became connected over time.
1. You Carried Me Bridal-Style

**You carried me bridal-style in one akuma attack and now Paris ship us together**

Marinette lifted her head from her book as she heard the sound of someone landing on her balcony near her. She glanced up, blanket wrapped around her shoulders to look at the boy standing gawkily by the railing and scuffing the toe of his right foot across the floor in an awkward gesture.

He opened his mouth a little to talk, hesitating for a moment before finally speaking. "Hi Marinette," he said, seeming to relax a little when she smiled at him, "How are you doing?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "About as well as can be expected considering all the attention I've gotten since yesterday."

"Sorry," he said, eyes creased with guilt.

"Don't be. You saved me." She gestured for him to sit down in the spot next to her on the sun lounger and although he moved forward at the motion, he sat on the edge of the table in front of her instead. He seemed worried and she quickly spoke up to reassure him. "You've probably done the same for hundreds of other girls, it was just unfortunate that so many people got videos of you saving me instead of them."

"Yeah. Well, none of them were wearing shorts-" -he gave a humourless snort- "-And I don't often have to carry them all over Paris for close to an hour trying to lose the speed akuma chasing them."

Marinette shook her head at the memory. She'd fallen during the sports day race for the girls in her year group in her own typical clumsy fashion and unfortunately, she'd taken out the girl beside her as she'd gone down. Louise was athletic and had been training for weeks so she had been furious at Marinette for ruining her chances to win.

Of course, when Marinette had run, the girl had kept cutting off all of her attempts at escaping and she'd been unable to find somewhere private to transform. She might have been a goner if Chat hadn't shown up and taken her to the rooftops in an attempt to avoid _Vélocité_. After all, the rooftops had fewer barriers than a lot of the walkways but she'd been fast enough that she had managed to circle around every building he'd tried to lose her on. They'd only gotten away because Marinette had suggested to him that they wait for her to curve around and get out of sight for a few moments before dropping low to the roof, letting her think she'd lost them and giving up with a growl of fury.

But ever since then, everyone had speculated on just why Chat had been so keen to carry her the way he had, as if it was some kind of romantic gesture. Going back to school had been hell. A lot of the kids and even parents had showered her with questions, asked if they were dating (she had adamantly denied that immediately), or if he had at least flirted with her. There were similar speculations trending on the internet not long after and her social media pages had blown up with messages from strangers.

"You carried me bridal-style in one akuma attack and now Paris ship us together," she snorted.

"Not all of Paris," he added worriedly.

And it was true. There were just as many people calling outrage at the presumption that Chat Noir, famous superhero, would dare have any interest in _her._ Many claimed people were only seeing things that weren't there like they were a non-canon ship in a kids TV show. Some, namely his fan-girls, were screaming for Marinette to be called out as a monster of some kind for daring to try and turn his head. And worst of all, were the ones who assumed he was much older and that it was disgusting and predatory for him to like a teenager.

In the last twenty-eight hours she'd been questioned, dragged through the mud and now she was even being pitied and warned against any possible grooming from him as if he was some kind of paedophile.

Which meant he was the one she was really worried for. "A lot of people aren't being so kind to you over this either," she said, "They think you're a grown man and I'm just a little girl."

He shrugged, a sad little look of disappointment on his face. "It's the Miraculous. It distorts how we look to people," he said, "at least, as far as age goes. No one can agree on how old we are. Everyone sees us as the age they expect us to be. If someone thinks kids shouldn't be superheroes, they see us as adults. "

She frowned. "How do you know that?" she asked curiously. It was something she'd never really considered before. She knew that a lot of people thought she was much older than she was but she hadn't dwelt on it too much to consider it was actually a trait of the magic that kept them masked. She hadn't even considered asking Tikki or Master Fu about it because it had simply been convenient to let people think she was anything other than herself.

"I have a...sort of magical helper. Called a Kwami. He can be useful - when bribed of course." He grinned fondly and Marinette smiled softly in response, thinking of how much he'd complained about him during the odd patrol in the past. "Only other Miraculous holders can see us as we actually are, but when it comes to regular people, it's those in their twenties that tend to see me as closest to my real age the most."

"So...how old are you?" she asked gently. She didn't need to know. From what he'd said already, she now knew she could see him as he was. But Chat didn't know that and she had to keep up the charade. Besides, she really wanted to see how he'd respond. Would he lie, or tell the truth? Or would he simply deign not to answer? And just how would he tell her? She wondered if he'd be excited to share or hesitant. As long as he didn't go cold. She wasn't sure she could handle that from him, even if he wasn't aware he was talking to Ladybug.

She waited. He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly and looked at the concrete floor for a long moment before finally, _finally_ he spoke. "I'm fourteen," he said softly, his voice like a secret on the wind. He looked up at her through his lashes to see her reaction and he was so shy and vulnerable that Marinette felt completely unprepared.

"Oh," she said, "I'm fourteen too."

"I know," he said, and she supposed he did, considering the amount of coverage she'd gotten online. "How old did you think I was?"

"About fourteen or fifteen. I'm just...after what you told me I'm surprised to be right." It was a lie and it felt awful in her mouth. What had really thrown her, was that he wasn't about her age, he _was_ her age. And he'd told her. And been shy about it. She fought down the heat creeping up her neck.

"Is that...okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she mumbled, before shaking herself a little and speaking with more conviction, "Yeah. I think I like that you're my age."

She pointedly refused to acknowledge the blush that had finally forced it's way onto her skin when she saw the grin he gave her in response.

* * *

 **From MariChat May prompt 6: You carried me bridal-style in one akuma attack and now Paris ship us together**


	2. Mari Protects Chat

**Mari protects Chat**

"So once _again_ ," Marinette said, clearly frustrated with the reporter she was currently addressing, "Chat Noir simply saved me from an akuma. He was not then, nor is he now, interested in me."

"So why did he carry you for so long?" came a shout from the back of the crowd.

Marinette gritted her teeth and took a deep breath before continuing. She had asked for this to be arranged to help Chat and fix his reputation. It would not do anyone any good if she lost her temper. "I was being targeted by an akuma who could move fast. There was no way for me to avoid being caught and possibly harmed if he _hadn't_ carried me. And the akuma was making it difficult for us to escape."

"So, an adult did not flirt with you, is that what you're saying?" a particularly slimy online journalist asked. Clearly looking to get a reaction for his little digital tabloid, Marinette thought.

"Just how old do you think Chat Noir is?" she asked him.

There was a murmur through the crowd she was still surprised had gathered in the numbers before her. She'd only asked maybe half a dozen of the local news outlets if they wanted her story on the rumours circulating. Legally they couldn't harass her for information because she was a minor, but that didn't mean she wasn't allowed to speak to them as long as her parents agreed. Maman hadn't liked it but Papa had agreed on the condition that he was present during any questions. However, when they'd shown up to the pre-arranged meeting place, they'd been shocked to discover that somehow word had gotten out that she was speaking and it appeared to have turned into a whole mini-press conference.

"Are you trying to say Chat Noir isn't an adult?" Mrs Chamack asked her gently and Marinette was glad the woman had agreed to come. She was so much more gentle and understanding than a lot of these vultures, but she did suspect that was only because she knew Marinette personally.

"All I'm trying to say, is you'll probably find it harder to pin down an exact age you all agree on for him. Ladybug too." She smiled. "Their powers and costume are granted by powerful magic and we don't understand everything it can do. You'll find that a lot of young people think the two of them are young too."

* * *

"Marinette!" Chat said, appearing on her balcony and scooping her into a hug before she'd gotten a chance to prepare herself. She dropped the watering can she was using and watched as it clattered away to the floor, draining onto the concrete.

"Um, Hi Chat," she said as he let go, a huge smile taking over the majority of his face.

"You were fantastic!" he cried, and she placed her finger against her own lip and shushed him, lest people notice him up on her balcony and start the rumours all over again. "I haven't had a single nasty thing shouted at me since they printed and aired the stuff you said. A couple people even asked me what age I was – not that I told them of course, but-"

She watched him fondly as he continued to garble out every little thing that came into his head, his manic joy contagious and uplifting. She couldn't help but laugh a little and watched as he cut off mid-sentence and, upon seeing her laugh wasn't a mockery of him, laughed along with her.

"Thanks, Princess."

"Don't mention it Chat. It was my turn to protect you."

* * *

 **From MariChat May 2018 prompt Day 7:** **Mari protects Chat**


	3. Touch Starved

**Touch Starved**

"Chat!" Marinette shrieked, as the masked hero - who had quickly become her friend on both sides of the mask - scooped her up from behind, pinning her arms to her sides as he hugged her suddenly. She was amazed he could still take her off guard at all considering how often he gave impromptu hugs.

"Oh sorry, Marinette, but these are the absolute best!" He dropped her back to her feet quickly as he went back to the desk to look at the little clay charms she'd made him.

When he'd told her last week that he had started collecting unique charms since a friend had given him a charm bracelet, and expressed annoyance at the lack of original Ladybug and Chat Noir ones, it had given her an idea. So she'd set to work and now watched as he stared euphorically at a tiny red yo-yo and a tiny silver baton, both painted with model paints to add details. It hadn't been easy but once Marinette got something in her head, she just refused to give up. Especially when it was for her friends.

"You have got to stop hugging me like that, you know?" she said, "You'll knock me over or give me a heart attack or something."

He grinned. "Sorry."

* * *

"Come and get warm cookies, Chat! I baked them myself."

After putting the tray down, Marinette braced herself for the inevitable hug as he dashed towards her quickly. "Wow, you made these?" he asked, stopping just short as he reached her and instead taking a small step back as he grabbed a cookie instead.

"Uh, yeah," she said with a frown, not entirely sure why she was disappointed.

* * *

"Argh! I don't know!" Marinette groaned as she tried to find a movie or series she wanted to watch from the pile of blu-rays he had brought over. "Why don't you just pick?"

"Last time I did you gave me a hard time for being such a weeb," he said with a shrug, "It was only DragonBall."

"Well, this time I won't, I'll-" -she bit her lip as her arms twitched a little- "I'll even let you put on that skating one if you want."

"Really!?" he asked, his entire body springing up from his chair in one move excitedly. She took a slight step towards him, arms opening a little.

"Yeah." She braced herself again.

"Great!" he shouted and turned suddenly, heading for the mini player to set up the show for them.

"Yeah," she said, voice catching slightly as she deflated, "great."

* * *

Marinette's foot tapped rapidly against the concrete as she leant against her balcony railing and chewed at her lip. She considered pacing but it didn't seem to be doing any better lately at burning off her restless energy and she'd only end scuffing her new shoes. She begged herself to relax and forced her leg to stop bouncing, but she felt more tightly wound than she remembered being for some time and there was clearly no coming down from it anytime soon.

A small thud brought her back to the moment and she turned to see Chat sitting forward on her round table, slouched in place and head hung low. "Chat?" she said and he didn't acknowledge her in any way. " _Chaton?_ Are you...alright?"

He made a non-committal humming noise in response but remained as small and fragile looking as ever. Gingerly making her way towards him, she stretched out her hand to touch his hair, hesitating a little before sinking her fingers into the blond locks and stroking his head.

He jumped a little in response, not having expected it before relaxing into her touch with a sigh. "I'm okay," he said, "Just a bit down."

"Need a hug?" she asked him.

"Thought you didn't like it when I hugged you?" he said, glancing up with a pained expression. That dumb kitty. Did he honestly think it was all or nothing?

"You can hug me," she said, petting his hair more firmly now, "I just don't like being lifted off the ground. I'm short, you know. Heights are scary." She giggled as his eyes brightened a little at her teasing.

"So I can hug you?" he asked, a small smile starting to appear on his face.

Instead of answering she dropped to her knees beside him and flung her arms around his waist, her face buried in his chest. The second she made contact she melted against him, letting out a long relaxed exhale. Clearly he wasn't the only one who had needed a hug, she realised as she felt the tension of the past two weeks ebb away just by breathing against him like this. She had never been a stranger to hugs, having ready access to them from a number of sources, but she had missed the easy-going way in which Chat reached for a hug whenever something excited him. She had missed the feel of him.

He wrapped his own arms around her instantly, his forehead resting against her hair as he squeezed lightly, in desperate need of the contact to soothe whatever was bothering him, while she hoped against all hopes that it hadn't been because of this stupid misunderstanding.

* * *

 **From MariChat May 2018 prompt** **Day 12: Touch Starved**


	4. Cuddles and Petting and Nuzzles

**Cuddles + petting + nuzzles**

It was another one of his "down days" again.

Marinette watched from her balcony lounger, embroidery hoop in hand, as Chat continued to fake a smile while he tensely sat atop the little table in front of her. Once again the smile was less than his usual toothy grin and yet it wasn't quite soft enough to be a natural lifting of the corners of his mouth, which he sometimes used in lieu of a full smile. This was something she'd become intimately accustomed to as Ladybug on patrols over their partnership – days when Chat's mind was working against him, a thing he refused to admit happened at times. Instead, he would plaster on a smile -one which was truly convincing as long as you didn't know him very well- and flirt with her until her melodramatic reactions and long-suffering sighs made him smile more genuinely.

The trouble was that Chat didn't flirt with Marinette. Or, at least, not as open and obviously. Instead, he teased her softly. He made the sweetest off-hand comments about her being pretty or amazing and talented and then had the audacity to act like he hadn't said anything out of the ordinary. He got playful and batted at her pigtails, just like a cat would, and now that he knew hugs were totally okay with her, he often took full advantage to snuggle into her warmth.

Lately cuddling had become a sort of a guilty pleasure for the both of them. It was still awkward to think about but whenever Chat hugged her tight, it would quickly transition from a gentle squeeze to them lying down -on her chaise, or her lounger, or her bed even- his chest against hers and nose nuzzling into the crook of her neck as she pet his hair while he purred. Neither of them ever mentioned it, as if it was a sort of taboo topic, but conversely neither ever acted as if it was anything but normal. They always broke apart slowly and peacefully, Chat attempting to tame his hair back into a much more controlled mess like he usually wore it pre-petting, whilst they went straight back to chatting like nothing had happened.

Which was basically how he handled every little move or comment he made around her. Everything he did was very much flirty behaviour, but more subtle than she was used to as Ladybug. He was definitely friendly but went further than that without ever over-stepping any boundaries she might have set. She was also pretty sure he never even noticed how his own cheeks blushed whenever he cheekily teased or complimented her. Maybe he genuinely thought he was acting as normal friends did, but then she hoped God would help the poor girls he hung out with in his real life - because she was barely able to avoid becoming flustered when he became all cuddly and she wasn't even interested in him. But she knew undoubtedly, there would be a girl somewhere who _adored_ the other side of Chat and who probably became a puddle of goo every time he so much as put his arm around her. Marinette certainly didn't envy her.

And that was what confused her. Because if he'd acted like this towards her when they first met, he might have been the boy she fell for instead. He was so much sweeter and more relatable when trying to be over-friendly with her civilian side than when he tried to get her alter-ego's attention. Whenever he flirted with Ladybug, it was always with such over-the-top flair and had a hint of showmanship about it, as if he were competing against someone else - not for her affections but for scores set by an imaginary group of judges watching from somewhere hidden from sight.

She snickered to herself as she imagined being on that panel as well, face completely deadpan and holding up a sign amongst the others which showed simply a thumbs down emoji in response to a ridiculous pun. Chat's ears pricked a little at the sound of her laughter and his head tilted as he looked at her in an unspoken question. "It's nothing," she told him with a giggle, "Random silly thought." His lips pulled up further in clearly faux humour and her smile faltered as she once again spotted the tension in the way he sat and the stiffness of his grin. "What's wrong?" she asked gently.

Chat's brow creased instantly and his eyes widened a little, whether in panic or shock - she wasn't sure. "Nothing's wrong, Marinette. What makes you think-"

"Come on, Chat. I haven't known you long now, but I like to think I've gotten to know you quite well. What's happened to upset you?" His eyes flitted away from her as she finished speaking, his teeth biting little dimples into his bottom lip with worry. "Chat," she said softly, "Tell me, please. I care about you."

The intense concentration in his eyes mellowed at last. "I...I suppose you do." He glanced at her tenderly and finally, _finally_ he smiled for real. The sight left Marinette chest feeling very warm and her stomach pleasantly squirmy. "It's nothing really," he said, "I told you once before. I just get down sometimes. Like today."

It was true. He wasn't sure exactly what was making him feel so melancholy, all he knew was that his heart hurt, and not in the pleasant way it did when he thought about kittens or his Lady. He didn't want to worry Marinette or Ladybug, and he'd been taught by his father to avoid emotional outbursts so he couldn't act how he was feeling in front of any civilians either. His father just didn't want to give people something to talk about, because being in the public eye -now as Chat as well as Adrien- could result in cruel speculations being thrown around. And he simply didn't want Adrien to have to deal with the trashier tabloids telling anyone who would listen that he was emotionally unstable in some way. He just wanted to protect him. But then so did Marinette, as she'd proved with her little press conference. And she wanted people to think about how he felt. That had been part of the way she'd gotten everyone to stop harassing him – by highlighting that he had feelings like everyone else.

When he saw her put down her embroidery hoop and open her arms for him he was already moving towards her before he realised he had even stood up from the table. "What about your sewing?" he asked her, stopping just short of the lounge chair and glancing at the surprisingly empty hoop she had discarded.

"I haven't made a single stitch yet," she said, gesturing with her arms for him to keep moving, "I'm still waiting on some inspiration. Come hug me, it might help."

He could see her smile as he gave in, crawling up the chair and resting his head against her shoulder as her hands instantly sank into his hair and scratched gently but firmly. He brought his arm around her and slid it beneath her back, his other arm circling her from the other side to trap them together in their comfort. Looking up at her, he could see the warmth in her eyes as she looked over him contentedly.

Marinette watched in peaceful puzzlement as Chat held eye contact with her, almost as if he had a purpose until his eyes very slowly started to slide closed, reopening a moment later to continue looking at her in wonder. Marinette gave him a lopsided smile and raised an eyebrow, ready to ask him what that had been all about when his eyes closed again – this time remaining closed as he started to nuzzle her shoulder and purr.

* * *

 **From MariChat May 2018 prompt Day:** **16 Cuddles + petting + nuzzles**


	5. Nightmares

**Nightmares**

"Hey Princess!" Chat shouted as he bounded through her skylight unceremoniously. "What's that?" he asked, ignoring the way her jaw dropped at the way he'd invited himself in without waiting for her approval. It was the first time since he'd started dropping by that he'd done that.

She snapped her jaw shut as she recovered. "Shh!" she scolded him, "My parents are asleep downstairs!" She was not ready to beg forgiveness for waking them before an early start tomorrow.

"Oops," he said, looking anything but apologetic as he grinned bright enough to rival the sun. He pointed. "What is it though?"

Marinette glanced down at the embroidery hoop he was looking at. On it, she had fitted a piece of cotton which she was half-way through working on. Within the frame she had used brown and grey threads – muted colours to avoid overpowering the pastel blue material – but she had embellished it somewhat with sparkling dark blue and silver thread to highlight details.

It was going to be a summer dress eventually, but first she needed to get an idea for how large this embroidery would be when finished. "It's a dream-catcher," she told him, "We covered some Native American history the other day in school and I got inspired."

"Cool," he said, grabbing an apple from her desk, another thing he'd done without permission. She stared suspiciously. "I used to have a dream-catcher when I was a kid," he said, taking a bite, "My dad's always been overprotective-" - _bite_ \- "-and I used to hear him talking to himself about things that worried him. I started having dreams where a kid I knew stopped wanting to play with me or that someone would kidnap me and steal me away." He took several bites from the apple as he finished talking, as if giving Marinette a chance to comment.

"Wow. That's...kinda dark for a kid."

"It's what my dad panicked about though," he said with a nonchalant shrug, "Anyway, my maman got me a dream-catcher. I'd been having nightmares for a while then and I was pretty frightened to go to sleep at night. I'd beg them to let me sleep in their bed with them, but maman wanted me to get over the problem instead of hiding. She told me my dream-catcher would catch all my nightmares but let the nice ones through so I shouldn't worry and go to sleep easily from then on."

Marinette watched him sadly. She deeply regretted that he'd ever had to go through that, but also realised now that his father was probably still the route of all his unhappiness. Looking back, he'd dropped enough comments in front of her as Ladybug that had made her realise his home life was less than stellar. Maybe, even now, his father's worries sometimes worried him too?

In front of her, Chat grinned again but this time his teeth were directed more at the embroidery hoop than her. And, clearly, at his past memories too. "It didn't work. Instead I freaked out that all my nightmares were stuck in the net and that when it filled up they'd either overflow or some very dark and scary creature would appear above my bed to empty it." He snickered. "It took me a month to admit to maman that the thing scared me. But, to be fair, I was only seven."

He continued to watch the design, a sad look floating over his face unexpectedly. "I miss her," he said quietly.

Marinette's brow creased as it dawned on her that Chat had lost his mother and now had a clearly detached but overprotective father. She hated that both the blondes in her life had to suffer such similar fates.

"Do they still scare you?" she asked.

"What?" He'd broken out of his reflection and was watching her wide-eyed.

"Dream-catchers? Do they still scare you? Because if not, I'm sure I could frame this fabric for you." She witnessed his obvious confusion and decided to elaborate, "You could hang it over your bed or something. For her. But since it's just a picture, no creepy dream-emptiers come with it."

She grinned when he did, echoing his gentle giggle that followed until she found herself watching a much happier Kitty as he collapsed at the memory of his own ridiculousness and fighting not to join in herself.

* * *

 **From the MariChat May 2018 prompt** **Day 13: Nightmares**


	6. Kitty Kisses

**Kitty Kisses**

Damn. He'd done it again.

Chat didn't understand why this kept happening to him. Perhaps he felt a little too comfortable when he came over to see Marinette. It _was_ warm here, and it always smelled of mouth-watering baked goods and coffee. Maybe it was that plus the fact that he was constantly made to wake up early at home which left him feeling a little drowsy whenever he visited Princess.

That and her hand in his hair, which drew purr after purr from his chest.

He stretched his legs a little and arched his back where he lay on her chaise, his head barely avoiding bumping her leg as she sat at the end, phone in hand and scrolling through some webpage or another. As she scrolled, she absent-mindedly scratched at the spot between his cat ears, her nails scraping deliciously against the soft leather-style material now and then– material that he could feel just like a second skin and still didn't quite understand how he could.

He felt his eyes drift closed for the latest of innumerable times as his chest continued to rumble. He immediately snapped the lids open to look up at her when he realised, embarrassed and ashamed for napping when he was supposed to be keeping her company.

From the look on her face she didn't appear annoyed with him. In fact, if he didn't know better he'd think she was the one embarrassed - there was a soft trace of pink bleeding across her face as she glanced between him and her phone a few times. She removed her hand from his head to tap at the screen harshly.

"What are you doing?" he asked her, his purr dying down a bit at the loss of contact.

"Reading," she answered with a slight catch in her voice and he tilted his head curiously and frowned, " and watching some...cat videos."

"Can I see?" he asked, a soft smile returning to his face.

"No!"

He was shocked by her outburst. Enough so that he sat up quickly on instinct and her phone flew out of her hands in shock, landing near him. He picked it up, turning towards her a little as he started to reach out to hand it over."You're not angry at me, are you?" he asked, his hand stilling as he worried his bottom lip at that same thought he'd had and dismissed so many times tonight.

Her eyes were wide, probably from the sudden change in seating arrangements he assumed, but they returned to normal as she contemplated his question. "Why would I be?" she asked.

"Because I can never seem to keep my eyes open," he said, "I'm supposed to be your guest but my eyes just get so heavy when I'm here. Lately, it feels like I'm basically blinking at you most of the time as I try to stay awake." He chuckled a little.

"No! I mean...I'm not angry." Her voice seemed more of a squeak than a normal sound to begin with and he briefly considered questioning her on it before deciding just to drop it instead. She wasn't annoyed. That was the main thing.

He held out her phone to her and the screen lit up when it came into contact with his gloved palm. She must have disabled the lock, he thought as he glanced down. As he started to pass the device back to her, he finally caught sight of the display, which she had apparently set up in the split screen mode. He froze at the sight.

On top of the screen, she'd opened an article which, at a glance, appeared to be about cat behaviour, the paragraph she'd been reading having the words "slow blink" as a header. The words beneath gave a brief explanation as to the meaning behind such and below that, on the bottom half of the screen was a video of a cat slow blinking. Slow blinking just like he'd been doing for the last _who knew_ how many nights.

It'd only taken a few seconds for him to take it all in, cat reflexes and observation being another thing Plagg's transformation seemed to give him and as he passed the phone back, he schooled his features into those of a person who did not feel like they'd just been socked right in the gut.

Quickly laying back down as she returned her attention to the wretched device, he closed his eyes fully this time and purposely refused to open them as he desperately tried to forget the title of the video he'd seen; _Kitty Kisses: How your cat tell you he loves you._

* * *

 **From the MariChat May 2018 prompt Day 8:** **Kitty Kisses**


	7. Are You Doodling Chat Noir?

**Are you...doodling Chat Noir?**

"What the hell is that?"

At the sound of Alya's voice, Marinette slammed her arms across her pencil work and pressed down, desperately tried to fuse her skin to the paper to avoid giving Alya even a tiny chance of stealing the sketchbook out from under her. As per usual of course, it was impossible to hold out against her best friend.

Alya grabbed one corner of the book and pulled whilst leaning in to tickle Marinette with her other hand and the girl shrieked before diving sideways to avoid an onslaught. "That was mean," she pouted.

Alya completely ignored her as she looked at the sketch Marinette had been working on, face positively beaming at having come across a scoop like this. "Are you...doodling Chat Noir!?"

Afraid to make direct eye contact, Marinette mumbled into her chest, although in fairness, there wasn't any real words coming out to be understood to begin with. "You've been holding out on me girl! You should've said you were crushing on him!"

"Marinette's crushing on someone?" came Nino's voice unexpectedly. Finally looking upwards to see him sliding into his seat, Marinette was mortified to find Adrien was with him and looking at her curiously as if surprised by the whole thing. God, was she really such a platonic person in his life that he couldn't even imagine her being into anyone?

"I _**do**_ _**not**_ have a crush on him!" she said, somewhere between an irritated grumble and a terrified shriek. She could _not_ let anyone think she liked Chat Noir and she certainly couldn't let Adrien think she liked anyone, otherwise he'd become even more oblivious to her potential as future girlfriend material.

"On who?" said oblivious boy asked, head tilted a little and Marinette found that he had such a look about him that she just wouldn't be able to feign ignorance. He was too much like a confused puppy. One who just wanted to be included in playing outdoors and was delighted to be offered the chance, but didn't quite understand why he couldn't just walk straight through the glass doors to freedom.

"Our Mari-bear here, has been drawing-" -Alya slammed the drawing on the desk for the boys to see- "our very own Chat Noir." Surprisingly, Adrien's legs seemed to give out under him as he crumpled into his seat suddenly. Marinette watched as Nino chided him for missing breakfast again, offering up a granola bar apparently kept just for such occasions.

After scarfing down the whole thing in record time, Adrien once again lifted his head and immediately locked eyes with her. She felt her face heat drastically at how intimate such a simple look could feel and determinedly tried not to fade off into another one of her daydreams. She could have even imagined that his own ears were rapidly turning pink if it wasn't for the fact that she was so used to projecting her own feelings onto others at times and knew she must be doing so again.

"You...like Chat Noir?" Adrien asked cautiously and Marinette decided she needed to be quick to correct him.

"No!" she said, "I just...wanted something to draw and...well people are always drawing the two of them, right? But then I didn't want to do another overly dramatic picture, 'cause there's so many of them looking like that and then I remembered-" -she smiled wistfully, her speech slowing and her fingertips tracing the edge of a sketch she'd made of a chibi Chat ridiculously over-stuffing his face with croissants- "I remembered how serious everyone was about when he saved me. And how reserved and serious he had to act until I spoke to the press about it. So...I figured I should try to show the more fun side of him, you know? The way he's meant to be – happy."

Adrien was still watching her when she finished, eyes blown wide and mouth open just a touch, the first hints of a smile appearing around the corners of his mouth. He looked like he might say something in a moment. Maybe he'd be inspired by what she said and-

"Uh huh, sure M." Alya interrupted her thoughts. "Sounds to me like someone got fixated after tall, dark and handsome saved her, and based on what you told the press, he let you in on a few secrets. Maybe let you know he's not too old for a crush on him to be creepy?"

"Alya! You've got it all wrong!"

Adrien swallowed his unformed words to watch as the two girls teased and argued with each other. The whole while he tried and failed to steady the uncomfortable rhythm of his heart as it tried to break out of his body through his ribcage.

* * *

 **From the MariChat May 2018 prompt** **Day 11: Are you...doodling Chat Noir?**


	8. Belt Tail

**Belt Tail**

"Can I ask you a silly question?

"You can ask all you want," Chat said from where he was laying on his stomach facing the bottom of her bed as he leafed through a magazine, "Doesn't mean I'll answer though." He turned his head and smirked a little as he heard her irritated exhale.

Watching her seated form as she reached out towards him hesitantly, he saw her hand pulling back for a half-second as she reconsidered whatever she was about to do. "Can you feel this?" she finally asked, gently grabbing at the leather-like tail swatting in the air above his back and rubbing her thumb against it with a small sigh. His cat ears stood up straight and his stomach took an unpleasant dip from the unexpected sensation.

"Y-Yeah," he said, immensely glad to be lying down already, "Can, um...can I have it back now?"

"Oh, sorry." She let go with a shy smile and curiously followed the tail with her eyes as it returned to it's lazy swishing for a moment before curling against his lower back, and around and up the side of his ribs. "Are you moving it on purpose?" she added as an afterthought.

"Like, intentionally?" he asked with a frown, "No. It just kinda...does it's own thing. The ears too."

"Huh."

This felt uncomfortable. Normally he had no issues with questions per se, it was just that there seemed to be more to this than she was letting on. It seemed a little more personal than usual, though heavens knew how since she was only asking things he guessed a lot of people probably wondered about him. He desperately wished he knew what she was getting at already so they could change the subject back to something normal.

"What is it?" he asked anxiously, "Spit it out."

She often blushed heavily so he wasn't entirely surprised when she did so, but he was amazed at how she suddenly refused to hide it. Marinette always tried to pretend that she wasn't bothered by anything whenever he teased her or she did something clumsy and embarrassing, so she often turned away to busy herself until her blushes faded. She must have been much more invested in whatever she was curious about than ever before because he was able to watch her face bloom to pink directly this time.

"I've seen the reports where you take your tail off to use during fights," she said, "Do you still feel it then?"

"I-" He stopped. Frowned. He cast his mind back to every fight he'd had since his father had been akumatised - the first time they'd detached his tail to use. He couldn't pin point anything but then he'd always been so caught up in the moment. "I'm not sure," he said, "I've always been distracted when I've taken it off before. I guess not? Or I would've noticed, right?"

Marinette tilted her head curiously at the tip of his tail, flicking slightly as if it knew they were talking about it. "Do you want to find out?" he asked her.

And there was the hiding he'd expected. Marinette's blush deepened as she lifted her shoulders and turned her head to the side. "Only if you want to." He watched as she brushed at her bangs with her fingers and decided it was probably mean to distract him.

He slipped his thumb under the belt where it looped around his waist and willed it to detach as he pulled it away from his body. It slid against his lower back and then his stomach where he was still pressed against the mattress until finally it was completely free of him. He realised there didn't appear to be any sensations coming from it so he gently tossed it to the bed where it sat lifeless and looking very much like a belt and nothing more."Huh. Guess that answers that then," he said and returned to his magazine as if they hadn't just had the weirdest conversation.

Marinette reached out towards the belt hesitantly and he saw from the corner of his eye as she glanced towards him to see if he was looking before finally stroking her hand across it. His nerve endings electrified along his back as if his tail were still attached and he felt his ears straight atop his head. He refused to move, refused to react. There was a rumbling sensation in his chest and he pushed it down as much as he could, giving a gentle cough to cover it up when he failed slightly.

The stroking sensation stopped and he dared a look at the girl beside his legs, his head barely moving as it felt like his tail had wrapped around something instead. Again looking from the corner of his eye he spotted his traitorous tail wrapped around Marinette's upper arm, the tip swaying gently back and forth and rubbing against her face during every movement.

"Um, Chat?" she said and he returned his eyes to his magazine quickly, putting on an air of nonchalance before responding.

"Yeah, uh gonna pass me my tail back, Princess?" he said in a remarkably level voice, "I should probably put it back on before I forget. I don't know what'll happen to my transformation if I lose it." Without looking he held out a clawed hand and was relived when she placed the belt in it without commenting on it's actions while emancipated from him.

 _Maybe if I just pretend,_ he thought, _I can forget this, just like the kitty kisses incident._ The one he knew fine well he'd never forgotten.

* * *

 **From the MariChat May Prompt Day 9:** **Belt Tail**


	9. Catnip

**Catnip**

There was a smashing noise from above her head and Marinette gritted her teeth in annoyance. She'd spent a lot of money on her new plants and if Chat had broken a pot just because he wasn't paying attention she was going to kill him.

Pushing her head up through the skylight, she spotted the hero himself, sitting on his haunches and staring vacantly at one of her new plants with his jaw dropped. He looked like he might be drooling.

All anger abating, Marinette climbed up onto the balcony and started to approach the boy carefully, worry evident on her face. "Chat?" she called, "Chat Noir? Are you okay, Kitty-cat?"

He turned to stare at her slowly and it took several seconds for his eyes to focus on her, at which point he grinned widely and launched himself forward, knocking them both through the still open skylight where they landed heavily on her bed. Marinette groaned a little at the rough landing and silently thanked God that she had a loft bed so there wasn't as much height to fall from as there could have been.

"Chat?" she asked with a groan as a realisation came over her, "I thought you said catnip doesn't affect you?"

"Doesn'," he slurred, cuddled into her chest and rubbing his cheek against her in an over affectionate way.

"Really? 'Cause I don't believe you."

"Doesn't though," he insisted with a screwed up frown appearing on his face which Marinette couldn't help but find adorable, "Bought some for my Kwami ages ago. Doesn' bother him, doesn' bother me."

"Maybe. Did you try both dried and fresh?" she asked.

"Jus' dried."

"Chat!" she scolded tenderly. She buried her hands in his hair and tutted at him as he pushed his head against her and purred. He'd enjoyed being petted for a while now, but he'd never been quite this...enthusiastic before. She giggled. "Fresh and dried can affect cats differently, silly. Just because you don't react to one, doesn't mean you won't to the other."

"Is that why those purple flowers smell so good?" he asked as he swung a leg across her body, his tail wrapping around her calf as he did so.

 _Breathe,_ she told herself, _Just breathe._ He was very close. He was very cuddly. She was very confused.

"You smell good too."

"I..."

"You always smell good. And sound good. And look good." He looked up at her, his eyes half-lidded and pupils so dilated she could only see the green in his sclera, not his irises which had disappeared into the black void. "You're so good to me, Princess. Pretty Princess. Not s'pposed to like you, you know."

"I think I should go get rid of those plants before-!"

"Not s'pposed to like you. You're not my Lady." He looked up at her, now half climbing over her to see her face clearly. Marinette licked her lips and reminded herself to breathe again when Chat's eyes lazily followed the motion of her tongue.

"But do like you. Like you a lot." And Chat pressed his lips to hers, using a little too much pressure, mouth and chin still a little damp from his earlier drooling. She gasped but otherwise found herself unable to respond, completely shocked despite the mounting suspicions she'd had lately. As he pulled back he smiled crookedly at her, and Marinette couldn't do anything but stare. She needed time to compartmentalise this and work out how to react.

And as if he knew what she was thinking and was trying to give her what she needed, Chat gently pushed his nose into the junction between her neck and shoulder, inhaled deeply, and fell asleep.

* * *

 **From the MariChat May 2018 prompt Day 10: Catnip**


	10. Heartbeat

**Heartbeat**

As Adrien returned to the land of the conscious he was pleasantly surprised to discover that he felt blissfully warm. It still seemed dark through his closed eyelids though, so he was sure it couldn't be the morning sunlight shining through his large windows and creating a delicious sun-trap. Confused, he frowned as he blinked open his heavy eyes slowly and found himself looking directly at the underside of a very pink duvet cover. Adrien knew he didn't own a single pink piece of bedding, so the only logical conclusion was that he had fallen asleep at Marinette's. Realising this, his mind took the next logical step. And panicked.

He flailed under the cover for a moment as he tried to determine whether or not he was still masked (he was) and if he had any idea what time it was (he didn't). Quickly calming himself, he popped his head up from the covers slowly, allowing only his eyes to peek out at first. The sight of Marinette waving was what greeted him, an awkward yet amused smile on her face as she sat against her cat pillow, the room around her basked in the twilight from outside.

"Uh h-hi," he said, starting to emerge slowly, mind furiously trying to determine when sunset had been due today, "How long have I been asleep? Is it late?"

Marinette now felt her heart beating quicker now than when he had first fallen asleep, although she kept her face strictly neutral. She decided to glance at her phone before answering to try to stall for time. While Chat had slept, she had had a proper -albeit whispered- conversation with Tikki and although she was now confident in how she felt on the matter at hand, that didn't stop her being unsure of how exactly to approach this. God she was so nervous and he didn't even seem to remember anything. She took a breath to steady herself and fought down the immediate and irrational urge to burst out laughing. Realising only moments had passed, she checked the time on the phone screen. "You've only been out for about an hour or so," she said, "Feeling better now?"

"Uh, yeah," he said, closing his eyes and sighing with relief at the relatively small amount of misplaced time. He wouldn't have been missed yet. While father wouldn't have checked on him, Nathalie sometimes popped her head in a couple of hours after she expected him to go to sleep. He had gotten a few professional but firm tongue lashings in the past when she discovered he was still up. To find him gone would have caused all manner of problems, so it was a good thing it wasn't late yet. It didn't explain the current situation though. Why had he fallen asleep here? He opened his eyes again and looked at Marinette. "I'm a bit disorientated," he told her, "but I think I'm good."

He gave her a toothy grin for a moment until she glimpsed down his face suddenly, trying to suppress another small giggle when she glanced at his jaw. "You've been drooling again," she said, pointing at the dampness on his chin he hadn't even noticed until now.

"Again?" he asked, rubbing at his face with the back of his hand, "When did-" He stopped.

He had been planning to follow up with more but his hand suddenly hung dead against his chin and fell from his face in slow motion. His mouth dropped open as he realised and there was a very sudden roaring in his ears. The room in front of him blurred, but he could still make out the colours and shapes that were Marinette. She appeared to be calling him but he didn't seem to be able to hear her, his own erratic heartbeat the only physical tie he had to the present moment as his mind flashed back to earlier. Because he now remembered that he _had_ been drooling before – when he'd found her new catnip plants, nose first. And that's when he remembered everything that had come after as well.

"Chat!" Marinette whisper shouted, climbing to her knees at the lack of response. This wasn't right. He had said he felt disorientated, did cats sometimes zone out after a catnip high? She didn't think so but she didn't really know and he was starting to worry her by not responding like this, her earlier unease subsiding to make way for a different, stronger form of panic instead. She shook him gently, another not-quite-shout coming from her throat as tears started to threaten at the edges of her eyes. When gently didn't work, she shook far harder than what she would normally consider safe.

And then, slowly she could see that his eyes were focused on her again. His erratic pupils stopped moving around and narrowed in on her own eyes, dilating further in the darkness of her room. She was barely beginning to relax again before he let out a high-pitched squeal, her hands flying away from his arms where she had been shaking him in fright. She was forced to watch as he wholeheartedly flung himself down onto her bed, arms crossed against his forehead and claws grabbing her pillow as his face tried to burrow into it. Okay. That was a bit weird. But then she had certainly acted weirder around people before so she really shouldn't judge.

Chat could feel the heat from his face warm the pillow beneath it and his closeness to Marinette's scent from the very same pillow wasn't helping matters any as it made him blush even harder than before. He was pressing his nose and mouth into the surface harshly, and he knew it wouldn't be long before he started to struggle to breathe, so he turned his head ever so slightly (towards the wall and away from Marinette, of course) and then readjusted his arm to allow a little air to flow. After all, he couldn't go suffocating himself before the embarrassment got to do him in.

"Chat?"

He whined internally. How dare Marinette's voice penetrate his pillow sanctuary? Was nothing sacred anymore? "What's wrong?" she asked, "Come on, you're going to give me a heart attack if you don't answer." This time the whine was audible to them both. He wasn't sure what to do. He didn't want to worry her, but...but he was _so_ not ready to talk to her yet. Couldn't he take five minutes for himself? Ten? A year? Instead, he sighed.

"Chat's not here anymore," he said, voice muffled by the pillow, "He died of embarrassment. This is his ghost's voicemail. Beeep."

She snickered a little at that, flushed and awkward as she was feeling. At least now she knew that he actually remembered. It avoided the delicate part where she'd have to ask and possibly explain to him what he'd done.

"Come on out Kitty," she told him, adopting a soft voice but using a tone which ensured there was no room for debate, "We need to talk."

* * *

 **From the MariChat May prompt** **Day 17: Heartbeat**


	11. Ridiculous Romantic Gestures

**Ridiculous Romantic Gestures**

The silence was deafening. Chat still refused to look at Marinette for too long and she was already starting to think of all the frustrating time she had spent coaxing him away from her pillow as pleasant in comparison to the present moment.

Once he'd sat up and crossed his legs she'd realised that she still had no idea how to approach this new and wonderfully terrifying situation. But if she didn't break the silence soon she was going to start rambling from sheer discomfort and that never benefited anyone. "So," she started, the rest of the sentence going nowhere fast.

"So," he echoed her, his eyes briefly flicking over her face as he tried to judge where the conversation might go. It quickly became apparent to both of them that Marinette's train of thought hadn't derailed as much as it had never left the station. In fact the driver was probably out back smoking a cigarette whilst his passengers just got more and more frustrated at the delay.

Chat was more familiar with driving than most fourteen year olds considering he and Ladybug had used a lot of cars as distractions in the past, but that didn't change the fact that he'd never driven a train before. He shook his head. Was he that stuck inside his own head that he was taking the metaphor too far? That decided it then. He finally lifted his head and looked Marinette straight in the eyes. She gave a startled blink at his sudden directness.

"So I-I said some things," he stopped and took a deep breath, "and then I...I-"

"Then you kissed me," Marinette said, face remaining completely neutral other than the warm glow slowly transforming her face into a darker hue.

He blushed heavily himself. The train was chugging along now but it wasn't a smooth ride by any means. He felt his heart jump as the rails made their way over the rough terrain. "Yeah," he said, his voice an octave or two too high, "Catnip Chat decided my first kiss should include tackling someone and drooling on them. Not too clever."

His first kiss? Marinette looked at him sceptically. A smooth guy like him? Or at least, a guy who tried to be smooth? Besides, she knew of at least one kiss he'd shared before. "That was not your first kiss," she said, crossing her arms, her face a mask of unimpressed eye-rolling, "Ladybug. The picture from Nadja Chamack's show." She raised an eyebrow and he mirrored her eye-roll before narrowing them in return, some of his embarrassment visibly easing off.

"Okay, first of all," he said, raising a finger to count off, "I don't remember that so it doesn't count. Second, I was under an akuma's influence and since his powers were hate based, a kiss was the only way to break it-" -Marinette felt her stomach dip uncomfortably at the little white lie she had given him as Ladybug to explain away her actions after he'd seen the picture, but she remained quiet- "-and third, because I thought I hated her at the time and she only did it to free me, it doesn't count _even more_ because there were no feelings involved on either side."

All the tension in Marinette's face and shoulders disappeared instantly and she had to fight to keep her mouth closed as her stomach tried to burrow it's way through the mattress below her. "But there was when you kissed me earlier?" she asked quickly, "Feelings, I mean."

His whole upper body suddenly jerked backwards a centimetre in shock and she let out a nervous bark of laughter at his cartoonesque movements until he shyly dropped his head. When he spoke, it was with a quiet mumble, "Yeah, there was."

She'd expected it, more or less, so she wasn't sure why his declaration floored her so badly. Chat Noir, incredibly handsome teenager, superhero and trusted partner; had feelings for regular everyday Marinette. It wasn't that she was all that insecure about whether people found her interesting or attractive as herself; she hadn't been for some time. But there was something about knowing that Chat had fallen for her clearly more confident alter-ego first and had still managed to notice her in spite of his raging crush on Ladybug that made her remember what Tikki was always trying to tell her – she was still Ladybug with or without the mask.

"And...you've never kissed anyone else other than that before today?"

"That's what I implied, isn't it?"

"Then...you know," she said in a deceptively easy-going tone of voice. He lifted his eyes to meet hers as she spoke, a hint of hope floating in them, "considering you were accidentally high on catnip, that kiss probably didn't count either."

"No?" He didn't have a clue where she was going with this yet. He kept his hopes in check as best he could but they still swelled in his chest at the way she avoided looking at him.

"That means you still get the opportunity to make your first kiss -the very next one you have- a big romantic special thing."

Tilting his head as he watched her, Chat couldn't help but feel overjoyed at the way she deliberately refused to meet his eyes still or the way her face heated up. She scooted forward slightly on the bed towards him and she probably thought it had been subtle but he knew better at this point, a small grin appearing on his face and growing steadily. He leant his upper body forward slightly and watched as Marinette mirrored him, even going so far as to tilt her head to the side as well, although he was pleased to see she tilted hers in the other direction to him.

When their lips finally met (a gentle collision which instantly crashed all thought trains they may have boarded) they had both leant across towards the other in equal measure, neither one having been left to brave possible rejection alone. Marinette's hands slipped into his hair and Chat trailed his across her jaw to cradle her face, marvelling at the fact that this girl he had gotten to know so well in such a short space of time could make him feel this strongly already.

They pulled apart slowly, one kiss leading into another and another lazily until finally they simply peered at one another lovingly, Marinette's face a pretty pink colour and Chat no longer caring enough to blush with embarrassment but instead glowing with bliss.

"Kissing is excellent," he grinned, "We should definitely do more of that."

"Eh, it was alright," she joked, scratching at his head in a playful pet, "We should probably practice some more. You know, get better at it?"

"You sure we can improve on my big romantic first kiss?" He smirked as her face darkened further. She gave him a gentle shove. "Hey! No hitting! You were the one who said it first."

"You're ridiculous," she grumbled, but he was pleased to see her smile still remained wider than ever.

* * *

 **From the MariChat May 2018 prompt** **Day 15: Ridiculous Romantic Gestures**


	12. I Made You A Mask To Wear

**I made you a mask to wear out of the suit**

"So...Is this like, our first official date then?" Chat asked from where he sat perched on her sewing desk, "Because this is feeling more like a date than hanging out."

Marinette turned to look at him from where she was balanced on a step ladder behind the chaise, setting up the little projector fitted on the roof that she barely used anymore. She had removed Adrien's schedule back around the time Chat had first started visiting so she figured it now made sense to use the screen for its original purpose again and watch a movie on it tonight.

"It's pretty much the same as any other time we've watched a movie," she told him as she finished, carefully climbing down before moving towards him and stopping half-way to tap the projector screen gently, "I just realised I haven't used this for ages." She watched as his smile froze for a moment before softening out again across his face but he couldn't entirely control his cat ears and they drooped in response, belaying his internal disappointment. " _But_ ," she started and watched as his ears twitched up again in anticipation of her words, "Since this is our first movie since we, uh, got closer, you could call it a date if you want."

He tilted his head a little, almost imperceptibly. "Are you _embarrassed_ to say we're dating?" he said, voice full of glee and mischief.

"No!" she squawked.

She had barely spoken before he slid from the desk and quickly stalked towards her, looking very much like his namesake at that moment, playful and ready to pounce upon his prey. "Are you lying?" he asked, leaning into her personal space until she found herself bending backwards slightly to regain it. The moment struck her as familiar and she almost froze up as she tried to place it, shaking it off quickly so he wouldn't think he had upset her. "Because," he continued, voice still teasing, even as he up-righted himself again, "if we can't tell each other the truth about these things, then there's no one we can talk to about it. Big secret and all."

She bit her lip. She _did_ hate lying and she already had to lie about so much. She had lied a lot to cover up her crush on Adrien before. And about where she disappeared to when Paris needed her. About being just a normal girl and not Ladybug to her friends, her parents...to Chat. And he was right, she was already lying to everyone by omission by not mentioning that Chat visited her. And she was keeping the fact that they were more than friends to herself as well.

"Okay, so I'm a little embarrassed," she admitted, scuffing the toe of her show on the ground, "But I've never had a b-boyfriend before, unless you count an entire hour when I was five and married a boy at the park -which I don't by the way-" she said, nipping in the bud the way his eyes lit up before he began to tease her for that instead, "It's new and still kinda scary to think about at times."

Putting on the most devastating kitty pout he could, he threaded his gloved fingers through hers, gently resting his forehead against hers. "See I think it's the exact opposite," he said and his mouth transformed into a blinding grin she was surprised didn't hurt her eyes, "I would jump up and down and shout about it from the rooftops if I could. It's exciting! There's this amazing girl I like, who likes me too-" -she blushed at that and he grinned wider in response- "who I can cuddle up to during movies now-"

"We practically did that before," she murmured, remembering the way he would end up with his head in her lap most of the time.

"You used to pet me like an actual cat. It's different," he said, "Where was I? Oh yeah, so now I get to cuddle you and kiss you and hold your hand any time we're alone." He squeezed her hand as if to make a point and the texture of his suit against her skin reminded Marinette of the gift she'd made him just before the catnip incident but had been too afraid to bring up since.

She unthreaded one of her hands from his whilst using the remaining one to rub circles across the side of his hand in a calming gesture, knowing from her own insecurities that pulling away from him suddenly could be interpreted as a bad thing. She gently tugged at his hand and moved away towards her desk behind him, letting go once they reached it to look through one of the drawers stacked on top. She found what she was looking for quickly and held it out to him, head dropped and cheeks flaming.

He looked at the black piece of material, not sure what it was at first but quickly realising and she shyly watched his face move from a puzzled expression to one full of awareness and understanding before settling onto impressed. He ran his fingers over the material -stiff but velvety where she had stitched soft material over her base. He looked up at her with a smirk, feeling his ego inflate at the thought that she had put effort into a Chat Noir themed mask, although heaven knew what for.

She glanced up at him shyly, dropping her head again when she saw his demeanour but smiled softly. "I thought, uh...I mean only if you want to! You could, you know, wear it sometime. Instead of the whole suit."

His grin dropped for a moment as a flood of panic overcame him. Detransform? But then she'd know...No, wait. If he wore the mask, she still wouldn't know who he was. So then- "Why?" he asked her. "Don't get me wrong, I love it! It looks exactly like this one-" -he tapped the side of his mask as he spoke- "but, I just don't understand."

"Because," she said, biting her lip but raising her face up to meet his own again as she gently threaded her fingers through his on the hand not currently clutching her mask, "then I can feel your skin when we hold hands."

All the tension in his face drained away and he suddenly felt lighter than air and the warmth that spread into his chest was just so pleasant and perfect. "Turn around," he asked her.

The moment she turned the room was filled with bright green light as he dropped his transformation and slipped on the new mask in one move.

* * *

 **From the MariChat May 2018 prompt Day** **19: I made you a mask to wear out of the suit**


	13. The Real MariChat

**The Real MariChat aka Mari and Plagg interactions**

Marinette couldn't help but gasp as the sudden flash of light enveloped her. Despite the fact that she had been expecting it the second Chat had asked her to turn around, she had been shocked. She knew it would only take a few seconds for him to put on his new mask to protect his identity, but she was still struck by how easy it would be to turn around and catch sight of his face before he had a chance to hide - not that she ever would. He must have known it too, and yet he still trusted her implicitly. Her face felt warm yet again. Was there no end to the amount of blushing she did because of this boy?

"You can look now," he said as the light faded out with a glow behind her and Marinette turned slowly in place, almost afraid to see him. Would the mask work? Would he still be Chat Noir or would he now be just a boy in a mask without the extra magic to keep his identity secret from her? Not for the first time she found herself wondering if she would recognise him.

As she finished turning to face him, she realised she needn't have worried. He was still Chat and not any more or less recognisable without his transformation in place. Sure, his hair was neater (was it actually a little shorter?) and he was wearing skinny jeans and a dark long-sleeved t-shirt, but really the only obvious difference was his eyes. She was so accustomed to seeing different shades of green in his eyes that the white sclera were a slight shock. She lifted her hand to run across the space beneath one of his eyes as she remained silent and awestruck. As she stared in wonder, his fingertips lifted to her face gingerly, sweeping across her check in return.

"Look, I don't want to be that person, but do you think you two could shelf this for a moment so I can get something to eat?"

She jumped in place, turning and very nearly poking Chat in the eye as he also turned his head to glare at the little black cat floating in the air beside them. Of course, she realised quickly calming down again, how could she have forgotten his Kwami?

"Okay, I lied. I don't care if I'm that person. I need food! I'm so hungry!"

Quickly getting over her reaction to seeing the little God, Marinette looked at Chat, schooling her expression into one of pretend confusion since he had no idea that she already knew what the little creature was.

"Marinette," he said while still staring daggers at his miniature partner-in-crime and gesturing to him, "this is Plagg and he will have to make do without because I don't have any cheese with me."

"What!?" Plagg whined, "You must have. How do you expect to get home unless I recharge?"

"Cheese?" she interrupted, sensing this might turn into a full blown argument if she didn't do something to head it off, "He needs cheese?"

"He certainly does!" Plagg said, flying over to hang in the air upside down in front of her face, "Do you have any Camembert? It's my favourite!"

"I don't think so. But there are some _Gougeres_ downstairs. Papa made them with Emmentaler I think."

Plagg seemed to consider it, his arm coming to rest under his chin as if he were holding his head up despite the reverse gravity of his position. "Hmmm. It'll have to do. It's not the worst type I've ever had to eat before."

* * *

Marinette was quick to fetch him his snack in order to return to her initial idea of holding hands and whilst Plagg was preoccupied, her boyfriend took full advantage of the opportunity to explain what part he played in being Chat Noir. She listened attentively as he explained things he didn't realise she was already aware of, and she made the appropriate noises and asked the right kinds of questions to keep up the facade until he seemed satisfied he had covered everything. Meanwhile, Marinette watched the tiny cat eat and couldn't help but mentally compare the little creature to the boy sitting next to her.

Chat always loved to show his boundless enthusiasm for life on the surface but clearly hid away his pain and loneliness behind a smile. Too many times he had tried to pretend everything was fine and play the part of the jokester until Marinette would call him on it and remind him that he was allowed to be sad, and encouraged to open up a little in her company. Far too often she'd watched him trade a grin for tears as he worked through whatever was making him feel so badly.

In a similar way, it looked like Plagg was just as deceptive with his internal feelings. The way Chat spoke about him, he was usually the definition of a sour-puss – having no regard for anything more important going on in the world around him. If she believed him, all Plagg wanted was to sleep and eat and avoid any and all drama. But she suspected by the way Plagg watched her boyfriend from the corner of his eye the entire time he was supposed to be dedicated to his beloved cheese, that he cared deeply about his chosen one. Whenever Chat's explanations veered into vague stories about Plagg's mischief, she noted they often had Chat being disappointed by something as the catalyst to the tiny Gods actions. And when Chat made an off-hand comment about his after-school job his father insisted upon, she spotted Plagg rolling his eyes and immediately joining in the conversation to change the topic. Yes, the Kwami of destruction might like to play the grumpy disinterested old man, but she could see it was mostly an act to distract Chat from his own mind.

After he had eaten, Plagg joined in with their chit-chat and was quickly confirmed as good company in her mind -a fact that was clearly a surprise for Chat based on his slack-jawed appearance. Never once did she share her observations about Plagg and his behaviour, but instead she cooed over him and did her best to inflate his ego until she felt confident enough to start to asking him the real questions she was curious about without him becoming too cheeky.

"Do you purr?" she asked eventually, the tiny ancient being now sitting in the palm of her hand, while Chat rested his chin on her shoulder, arm flung around her waist in an attempt to win back her attention -movie long forgotten by both of them.

"Sure," he said, a lot more co-operatively than she had expected based on what she had worked out about him, "for the right person."

She watched as he made eye contact with Chat over her shoulder and she turned to try and catch his reaction as his eyes widened ridiculously behind his mask. They watched Plagg reach down and rub his face against one of Marinette's curled fingers, giving a low rumble as he did so. Giggling and redirecting her attention to the tiny kitty, she reached out with her other hand and began to scratch the top of his head with her pinkie and heard the rumble intensify. The more she scratched, the louder he seemed to become and before she knew it he was lying collapsed in a puddle in her palm, her whole hand vibrating slightly as he smiled toothily.

"Thanks, Princess," he said, voice distorted by the rumbling as he lazily opened one eye to smirk at Chat again. She really did try but she just couldn't hold back another snicker at his antics. He really knew the best ways to rile up her boyfriend.

She felt Chat move away from her shoulder at the same moment she heard him speak, "Plagg, claws out!" and Plagg was already moving from her hand, speedily demanding that his chosen wait as he was sucked away. She turned her body around in time to see Chat become Chat again, blinking up at him in surprise. Surely he wasn't that irritated that Plagg seemed more comfortable around her than him?

"Sorry, but I don't know how often I'll be using your mask. I mean, if that's how annoying he's going to be every time then...um...sorry." He looked sheepish and scratched at the back of his head ashamedly. A flicker of further recognition sparked in Marinette's eyes as she remembered how rashly she'd acted when Lila had been hitting on Adrien all that time ago. She smirked as all the opportunities to flip his teasing back on him suddenly occurred to her. She stood up and moved towards him. "Oh my God. Are you _**jealous**_!?" she asked eagerly.

"What? No! I don't know what you're talking about!" He looked _so_ embarrassed. And he was so unbelievably red. Nobody blushed that hard when they were accused of something they weren't guilty of. She smirked wider.

"Oh wow. You are. You're jealous he was acting all cute with me. And that he got more attention from me than you did."

"Okay. It's late. Ihavetogohomenow," he sputtered out in a hurry, his words tangling into one incomprehensible noise. Instinctively she grabbed at his tail as he moved away and when he froze from the contact she wrapped her arms around him from behind, snuggling into his tensed shoulder-blades.

"Don't worry," she told him, "You're still my favourite kitty."

* * *

 **From the MariChat May prompt Day 22: The Real MariChat aka Mari and Plagg Interactions**


	14. Can I Pick Princess?

" **Can I pick princess?"**

"I don't like the sound of that," Chat said suspiciously from his spot on Marinette's chaise, "It sounds like she knows something and just wants you to admit you're keeping something from her."

"I know, " Marinette said as she spun back and forth in her desk chair, hands buried in her hair, "and you know Alya, she'll never leave me alone until she gets what she wants one way or another."

He frowned and watched as she tugged at the locks her fingers were locked on, wincing in sympathy whenever a few stray hairs were pulled loose. Quickly making his way over to her, he placed his own hands over hers, encouraging her with gentle strokes across the backs of her hands to let go and surrender her hair. As soon as she relaxed and released her grip, he pulled her fingers towards his mouth so that he could place sweet little kisses on the tips. He dropped to his knees between her legs to avoid towering over her, but held onto her hands, determined to stop her from hurting herself any more.

"Do you want to tell her? That we're together?" he asked. He watched as her eyes widened with a touch of panic and she shook her head for a moment before she hesitated instead and scrunched her eyebrows together.

"I don't want to put her in any danger. What if she ever slipped up and said to somebody that she knew your girlfriend? Hawkmoth could target her. And we only just started dating. It's still new to me, to us. I wouldn't really know where to start if I did tell her," she sighed, "But I hate lying to her, and I'm sure she knows I'm lying. Why else would I be refusing to let her set me up or avoiding talking about dating at all?"

He snickered a little at that. "Because not everyone is desperate for a boyfriend or a girlfriend?" he said, "Just because Alya's got Nino doesn't mean you need someone. You can be perfectly happy without obsessing over some guy."

"Yeah, but-" she glanced at him before her eyes fluttered away in obvious embarrassment, "-it's kinda...out of character for me."

It took him several seconds to realise his jaw was hanging open and he snapped it closed and squeezed her hands unconsciously, clearing his throat in order to buy him some more time to think about what to say.

As Chat, he wasn't supposed to know much about Marinette's life when he didn't see her other than what she told him herself. So, as Chat, it made perfect sense for him to be surprised that his girlfriend had apparently been a little boy-crazy around her best friend in the past. But he was pretty sure he didn't seem a little vaguely surprised like she would expect from him. Because honestly, he was outright shocked.

Adrien had never noticed Marinette being caught up over anyone at school before, or during any of the times he'd seen her outside of the building for that matter. She never seemed to be following after someone or blushing when any names were mentioned. So to think she'd been secretly fawning over someone. Or even multiple someones...

He didn't really want to think about it.

"S-so, unless you're trying to get someone to date you, or you admit that you have a boyfriend-"

"Which would not work out well either-"

"-She's gonna know something's up?"

Marinette's head dropped forward and she refused to make eye contact with him as her face slowly grew a darker and darker shade of red. She was clearly embarrassed to be telling him this, but at least she was telling him. That was something, right?

"Should I be jealous?" he asked, an uncomfortable squirming sensation building in his stomach, "Was there just one person or-"

"There was just one guy I had a major crush on!" she burst in suddenly, her hands leaving his own to softly caress the sides of his face instead, her attempt at reassurance, "And another I had a minor thing for, but it was mostly this one guy. Alya used to spend a lot of her time trying to help me catch his attention, so for me to suddenly drop all interest...that's what she's latching onto."

"Huh," he said, his eyes moving back and forth as his mind suddenly started flitting from one thing to the next. Thoughts started to shape and take form, swirling mists starting to solidify as things he'd been fretting about for weeks came to mind. Which started to formulate an idea. One he was pretty certain she wouldn't like. "Maybe," he said, licking his lips in anticipation, "maybe you should ask someone out."

"What!?"

"Hear me out. Ask out someone. If they say no, you can claim being turned down put you off dating, if he says yes, go on one date, then claim you just weren't clicking. Either way, Alya's off your case."

"Let me get this straight, you –my boyfriend– want me to date someone else?"

"On one condition."

She narrowed her eyes at him, her suspicion evident. "What condition?" she asked.

"Can I pick, Princess? Can I choose who you ask out?"

She looked him in disbelief, eyebrows lost in her hairline in surprise. She looked like she was considering whether he was drunk or not. "You cannot be serious. Why would you want to do that?"

"Trust me," he said, teeth gleaming as he smirked at her confused features. If this played out properly, he'd get something out of it other than making Alya back off. Something he'd been hoping for as Adrien before he'd taken the same leap as Chat.

"Who?"

"The boy in your class. Adrien Agreste." There was a beat of silence for a moment as Marinette stared at him, her face a complete mask to her emotions until-

" _ **How**_ _**did you know!?**_ " Marinette's face was suddenly the sheer personification of anger and as he eyed her ears to ensure steam wasn't erupting from them he started to consider his escape options. She could be truly terrifying when she wanted. "Who told you I have a crush on Adrien!?"

"Crush? So Adrien's the boy you like? Wait- _like_ not liked? As in still like?"

"Don't you dare try to change the subject, Kitty. I can't believe you set me up to make fun of me like this. It's so- mmph!"

Chat quickly cut her off with a smooch that was significantly more giggling than actual kissing on his part.

* * *

 **From the MariChat May 2018 prompt Day 2: "Can I pick princess?"**


	15. I Told You It Was A Bad Idea To Do That

**I told you it was a bad idea to do that**

"What the hell is this?"

Marinette looked up from her latest project to see Chat had let himself in again and from the look on his face, she was starting to wish she'd locked the skylight for a change. The little stuffed dog he was glaring daggers at didn't burst into flame the way he clearly wanted it to but it was still in danger if being destroyed if his clawed and clenching hands were any indication.

"It was a gift," she told him, standing up and scooping up the little soft friend to keep it out of arms reach of her annoyed boyfriend, "It's cute."

"It has a heart on it's collar." He was right, but she had hoped he wouldn't notice that. "Who gave you a stuffed animal that says 'Be Mine' on it?"

She sighed. "Does it matter?" Seeing his unimpressed expression and pursed lip she realised it wasn't going to be so easy to drop this any time soon. "Fine. Michel gave me it after school but was too nervous to stick around for long. I think he likes me."

Chat glowered, his eyebrows furrowing up until his brow was a crease of irritated wrinkles. "And you kept it!?"

"It's kinda cruel to throw away the presents people give me, isn't it?" she replied, glaring back at him. He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head a little in response, looking suspicious of something.

"Just how many gifts have you gotten?"

Oh crap. Here it was, go time.

"Quite a few," she said, standing up to her full height in preparation for an argument, "Your genius idea of going on a date with Adrien and then telling him that it wasn't working out backfired. 'Cause now the whole school thinks I'm over my crush and might be willing to move on to someone else!"

She stomped over to her desk drawer, angry at him for ruining her memory of the perfect date with Adrien last week by tainting it with this whole silly mess, and causing her the guilt she'd felt at both sort of betraying Chat and hurting Adrien when she'd had to let him down.

Opening the drawer, she pulled out a dozen cards and love-notes, a handful of stuffed animals and a couple of boxes of sweets she'd been given or had left in her locker over the past week. "I told you it was a bad idea to do that, but would you listen? No!"

Tears were pricking at the corners of her eyes. She would not allow him to make her feel bad because people liked her. His jealousy was his problem, not hers.

She watched as his face fell, realisation sweeping over him. He actually had the humility to look ashamed of himself. "Half the school's in love with you," he whispered as if it was something he hadn't considered until now.

She let out a huge sigh of disbelief. "Don't be stupid. Crush? Yes. Love? No," she said, "I'm...nice to people. They aren't afraid to tell me when they like me the way they are with some other girls." She faked coughed _Chloé's_ name into her hand and he smirked weakly at her antics. "It's just...I think most of them knew who I liked and that I wasn't likely to look at anyone else while I was hung up on him. Now they've all heard that it didn't work out. Because I made sure it didn't work out. I needed it not to...to keep you."

A tear finally leaked from her eye and tracked it's way down her cheek to land on the toy dog she still held. More followed and she found she just couldn't stop them anymore.

For a moment Chat just stared. "I hurt you," he said, a catch in his voice as he spoke. He moved towards her for a moment before changing his mind and snatching back the hand he had stretched out to touch her. "I'm sorry," he said, "I'm so sorry Marinette."

And before she could look up at him properly, he had dashed up to her bed and through her skylight, leaving her alone with her pain and tears.

* * *

 **Prompt from MariChat May 2018** **Day 14 : I told you it was a bad idea to do that**


	16. I Thought I Lost You

**I thought I lost you**

"No more patrols for you until you Sort. This. Out," Ladybug said abruptly.

Chat looked around suddenly at the sound of her stern words as if he had forgotten she was sitting on the same rooftop next to him. He just stared for a moment and Ladybug contemplated waving a hand in front of his face for a moment until he blinked and confirmed he was still there. She watched as he seemed to get over the initial shock of her voice before he seemed to consider her words. After a moment though, he simply returned to staring out across the city without really looking at anything, his face withdrawn and empty. "Sort what out?" he asked morosely.

Ladybug was not impressed with that answer and she stared at him with a deadpan expression to convey it, although the effect was in jeopardy of dissolving into tears if she didn't distract herself soon. Internally, she was ready to combust and she wasn't entirely sure if it was from anger or misery. She wanted to do something about this. Didn't he? Why hadn't he been by the bakery to see her yet?

It had been over a week since Chat had visited Marinette and taken a sudden dislike to first a single plushie and then a drawer full of gifts. She still didn't regret standing up to him for his jealousy but she had since admitted to herself that bringing her feelings for Adrien into the argument had been a mistake. Chat might have acted badly when he became jealous but ultimately it had come from a place of insecurity. If the argument had stayed on track and they had addressed his behaviour, she was sure he would have realised how unfair he was being and apologised to her. Then she could have reassured him that she was never going to abandon him for someone else. Instead, she had basically admitted that she was torn between two boys and hurt him badly enough that he couldn't even contemplate talking about it. Her mind was a mess of what if's and if only's. She always felt a little sick now thinking about it and other than the strange ache in her chest, the way he had run out had left her feeling unnaturally numb. She had to talk to him to get rid of this hollowness inside her; she needed to find a way to feel again. Even if it didn't go the way she hoped it would, the devastation and raw pain to follow would surely be better than being so empty.

"You know I pass through the 21st arrondissement a lot in my real life?" she tried to say without her voice trembling. While technically not a lie since she did live there, bending the truth made her even more uncomfortable and she fidgeted in place, looking out across Paris towards where home lay. She'd already hurt him by being overly truthful and now she was setting him up to be hurt by her lies whenever he eventually learned that Marinette and Ladybug were one and the same. She could see him turn to watch her patiently in her peripheral vision so she swallowed down her worries for later and continued. "One spot in particular. There's a girl who lives there. One I know that you know because I've sent you to protect her before and-" -she gulped- "who has been spending every night crying and shouting for you on her balcony for days now. Her neighbours and parents must be so confused."

It wasn't entirely true and again the ache in her chest throbbed. It was true that she had cried a lot despite her numbness and the first few days she had shouted for him. But that had been more of a whisper-shout, knowing his advanced hearing would pick it up if he was anywhere nearby and a louder shout would only draw attention if he did appear. It had still been loud enough that a few people from the street had given her a funny look once or twice and her mother had acted especially attentive in the mornings after she had been vocal. It had been in the same way she used to treat her in earlier years when Marinette had been bullied particularly badly and was visibly upset. But she would just have to put aside the worry that her mother knew _something_ for another time.

Looking away, Chat gave a strange smile beside her. It clearly wasn't an expression that showed he was happy or glad in any way -the smile didn't reach his eyes- but there was still a hint of amusement there somehow. Like seeing a funny animal video when you were still emotionally devastated after just failing an important test, only the effect was amplified. "I forgot you sent me to protect her from Evillustrator," he said quietly, "Makes sense."

"Huh?" she said, unable to articulate better with her current unrest.

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head a little and letting his face relax back to a neutral state, "I'll explain later but right now I should probably go and see her." He was on his feet and vaulting from the rooftop before Ladybug managed to uncross her legs and she cursed gently under her breath. It was unlikely she could beat him back since he was going there directly, but she might be able to stall him from jumping to conclusions about where she had gone until she could figure out a way to switch places with herself.

* * *

She found him sitting on her balcony railing a few minutes later as expected, gazing blindly at the trapdoor leading to her darkened room.

"I was worried so I followed you," she breathed out quickly, "but I didn't want to interrupt anything so I wasn't going to let you see me till I realised that she was out and then I-"

"I know it's you, Marinette."

She stopped talking instantly and the ache in her chest began to burn and spread out to her extremities as her mind switched off in panic. "What? I-I don't..." She trailed off as he looked at her and the enormity of his pain hit her, painted across his face gently like flickering light reflecting off the surface of water and yet so much an obvious part of him it might as well have been tattooed there. And right there amongst the pain was a certainty. Not a hunch or a guess. He _knew_.

She backed off to the wall of the building to give herself more cover from the street below before she dropped her transformation, the soft pink light illuminating them both. Tikki landed easily in her cupped palms but barely rested there before she flew up to place her small arm against Marinette's cheek in a show of support. Her little friend then phased through the trapdoor glass with only a moment spared to send a small sad glance at Chat upon his perch as he watched her leave.

"How? When?" Marinette said, watching the tips of her shoes move as she wiggled her toes in nervous anticipation of his answers.

"When you showed me the gifts during our argument," he said in an unnaturally level voice, no trace of any obvious emotion that she could detect. She glanced up to meet his eyes as he spoke. "I saw your Kwami among the toys. I thought she was just a plushie at the time...but later, when I was upset and reliving the whole thing over and over, I realised what she was. That she wasn't much smaller than Plagg and that she didn't look like your typical soft toy. That she looked more like I'd expect Ladybug's Kwami to."

Tikki must have used the drawer as her hiding place when Chat had arrived that night. She hadn't even noticed she was there herself, but then she'd been distracted and was used to seeing Tikki around enough that the little bug sometimes became background to her when she was distracted. "How much later was later?" she asked shakily.

He winced a little before answering. "I knew something was wrong a few hours after I got home, but I didn't know what. It took me a couple of days to figure it out. Seems pretty stupid."

"It's not stupid," she said.

They'd both gone so quiet she could hear the rustling of one of her plants as the sudden breeze swept through its leaves.

"No matter how you feel, I'm glad you know now," she suddenly said, her uneasiness turning her to full-on ramble mode, "I thought I'd lost you and you would never come back so I'd never get to apologise as Marinette but I'd still have to see you as Ladybug and then I'd have to pretend everything was normal when it _so_ wasn't and then we wouldn't work as partners either 'cause I'd be so weird around you but I'd never be able to tell you what was wrong and-"

He had moved away from the railing at the sound of her garbled attempt at communication and gripped her shoulders, effectively cutting her off as she snapped out of it to look up at him. He lifted a hand and brushed his thumb across her cheek. She was surprised to find it damp after he pulled it back. She hadn't realised she had been crying.

"It's late," he said, "but we need to talk. Can I come inside?"

She nodded vigorously in response as the silent tears continued to fall.

* * *

 **From the MariChat May 2018 Prompt Day 20:** **I thought I lost you**

There's only one chapter left to go after this. I'm not using a prompt for it because none of the ones left really work for me.


	17. Finale

**Finale**

Marinette wasn't entirely sure how "we need to talk" had turned into making out, but here they were regardless. It wasn't the rushed, heated sort of kissing most teenagers seemed to consider the be-all and end-all of their relationships, but -to them at least- it was intimate.

Her mouth moved sweetly against Chat's as he let out a gentle sigh against her and she was irrationally reminded of the sound Adrien had made when he had seen the cookies she had brought in for her friends last week at school. Instantly she was pushing Chat away from her by his shoulders, a soft noise of confusion spilling over his lips as he found them parted from hers.

He pushed back against her hands, so lightly she barely registered the movement and she kept her arms outstretched as a precaution against her own failing will-power. "We were supposed to be talking," she said, and he begrudgingly slumped in place, allowing her to reclaim her arms for her own use again.

"Fine," he said, more uncomfortable looking than grumpy. She was reminded of her own awkwardness from just before their fight and it didn't sit well with her. She didn't like to think he expected her to be angry soon enough. "Can I put on my other mask first though?" he asked. She nodded, turning to grab it from the bedpost she'd hung it on last time she'd almost lost it. Remaining with her back facing him, she passed the mask behind her, feeling him take it as his claws delicately scratched her wrist. She soon heard the tell-tale sound of his transformation dropping and saw the flash that always accompanied it but steadfastly she remained faced away until he gave her the all clear to look at him again. He was dressed in black sweatpants and what looked like an old stretched out navy t-shirt when she glanced back at him, very unlike his usual attire – not that he really went without his suit around her that often yet. He was always a little too afraid of-

"Oh my God, will you two just get all the awkward out already!? I'm dying over here!"

"Plagg," Marinette said, nodding at him despite the fact she hadn't taken her eyes from her detransformed boyfriend yet.

"Look," Plagg said, "I'm going to go see Tikki, now that I can _finally_ admit that that's where I'm actually disappearing to when I'm over here. Wow, that feels so good! Marinette is Ladybug! Your girlfriend is also your work wife! Woo!"

Marinette watched as he flew off to the lower level, an embarrassed heat rising to her face at his description of Ladybug. "So, you know who I am now," she said, "Glad we got that one cleared up." She scratched at the back of her head worriedly as she considered how to progress from there. "But…we never really spoke about, uh, about…" she trailed off and raised her eyes to meet his face, her gut a frenzy of squirming discomfort. "You got jealous," she finally stated, immediately regretting her decision to start with that at the expression which seemed to tear his handsome face in two.

"I know. I'm so sorry," he said hurriedly, "I just really didn't like the idea of you with someone else. I know that wouldn't have happened but, um, I just, I shouldn't have taken it out on you. You wouldn't have run off with anyone and it's not your fault I felt like that." He'd been stewing in those exact thoughts for days now. It took two people to cheat after all, an outsider to the relationship – whether they knew there was one or not- but also someone from within it, and he knew Marinette would never have entertained those other admirers. She wasn't like that. Even if she'd fallen for someone else, she was the kind to let him down slowly and break things off between them long before she would have ever approached someone else. He'd been such an idiot to forget all of that just because of a few gifts she'd received.

Marinette however, was getting more uncomfortable by the second. Because there was something in his words that while technically true, felt like a lie. She wouldn't have left him, but somehow it still felt like cheating even just liking someone else. She could hear the blood rushing in her ears as she tried to work out which words to use to explain how she was feeling to Chat without upsetting him. "I-I wouldn't have," she said, "Run off with someone, I mean. But I think it's important we talk about…what I said. That made you run off."

She could almost imagine Chat's ears pricking up atop his head in shock if he'd still been transformed and for some reason that she couldn't comprehend, the skin beneath his mask turned pink and bled to the tips of his ears, a drastic contrast to the dark colours of his outfit. It seemed to be enough to startle her from her stilted wording and Marinette plunged onwards. "You had me go on a date with someone else to throw Alya off and it was the guy you know I've got a crush on." She took a deep breath.

"Absolutely nothing happened between us," she added quickly, "I told you that. But…a part of me…wished it had." She screwed her eyes shut, too frightened to see the pain that she was sure would quickly encapsulate his face. "I need you to know -before we continue with _us_ \- that there might always be a part of me that wishes that. I've liked him for a really long time and those kinds of feelings - they don't just go away overnight." Despite her best attempts, she felt a stray tear roll down her cheek and she choked back a wail, although she wasn't sure if it was part of her crying fit or frustration because she had failed to hold it back. "But I need you to know that I… _I love you_ and I'm not going to consider anything with Adrien because it's you I want."

Three powerful words she had been holding back, and by speaking them aloud it seemed the floodgates had opened. Chat watched as she sobbed uncontrollably, her jeans staining a darker colour where her teardrops landed against them and she crumpled inwards, arms folding to hug herself tightly.

He reached out for her tentatively and she instantly collapsed into his arms, throwing an arm around his back while the opposite hand curled against his chest, searching for comfort. And as much as he was able, Chat gave it to her. He wrapped himself around her, enclosing her waist on one side while the other hand softly stroked her dark hair, pulling it out of her signature pigtails to run his fingers through the strands as he made gentle shushing noises against her ear.

She started to slowly calm down until her heaving breaths were all that remained of her breakdown, and Chat decided that with her wrapped in his embrace, eyes closed and ear to his heart, there was no better time to come clean and relieve her of her self-imposed guilt.

"I love you too," he started, feeling her tense against him and smiling as he placed a light kiss to the top of her head in response, "and I don't know how well I could take it if you really had such strong feelings for someone else," – his speech started to pick up speed as he felt her body tremble against his, the beginnings of a new sob building in her voice at his words- "so I guess I'm glad you don't. Have feelings for anyone else, that is."

She pulled away to look at him in confusion, her eyes and cheeks smudged with so much mascara, she had naturally managed to pull off the artsy look so many of his make-up artists had tried on him with their expensive face paints. He beamed at her. Smeared make-up, tear tracks and puffy eyes - she was so unbelievably beautiful.

"I mean," he said, using his thumb to massage and smooth out the wrinkle which had formed between her eyebrows, "the other boy you like? He's not another boy at all." Before Marinette could have a chance to work out the meaning behind his words, he lifted his mask from his face, making her gasp as he did.

"Hi," Adrien said.

She remained frozen for a moment, staring at his unmasked face, mentally comparing the two boys and giving that same part of her brain a good kicking for its sheer idiocy at not recognising him before now. "But…" she said, the sentence clearly going nowhere. His hand returned to her face as her adorable wrinkle resurfaced and he set to work removing it with tender little circles against her skin.

"You have no idea how much it killed me that you wouldn't let me kiss you goodnight after that date," he said, leaning forward to place a chaste kiss to the spot when it became apparent his usual ministrations weren't working.

Her expression changed the moment his lips made contact and instead of confused and upset she managed to transform before him without the usual magic he saw accompany it. "I can't believe you followed through with that date after you found out that I-" -she lightly slapped his arm- "-liked-" -another slap- "-you!" As she slapped his arm a third time he laughed, ecstatic at her return to her usual self. "Do you have any idea how much I psyched myself up to ask you out, even though I fully expected you to say no _and_ I knew nothing was going to come of it because I-" -whack- "-had a-" -thump- "-boyfriend?"

The pillow she was now using as her weapon of choice flew towards his head again and Adrien quickly grabbed hold of it, wrestling it away from her before carefully tackling her to the bed and pinning her beneath him. "Yeah, well _two days_ I spent making sure I was alone around you, so you could ask me! I waited two whole days Marinette!"

Giggling, she leaned up and placed a simple peck on his lips. She'd barely pulled back when he chased after her for more, causing her to giggle against this mouth instead. "How are you going to explain us to Alya now?" he asked between kisses, changing tactic and gently showering his affections against the hollow beneath her ear instead.

She hummed appreciatively for a moment as she considered. "I think I'll just tell her I got flustered when you tried to kiss me on our date. It's believable, I've freaked out over the smallest things before."

"Oh reeeeally?" he drawled, drawing out the last word as he raised his head to grin down at her.

"Oh, shut up," she said, blushing, "I'll just say I rambled and turned you down out of sheer panic and I was too embarrassed to admit it." She fluttered her eyelashes at him, the smeared make-up and pink glow across her cheeks deflecting only slightly from how unbelievably sexy she appeared to Adrien in that moment. "But I guess I must have worked up the nerve to explain after all," she said as she dragged him down towards her again for the latest in what she hoped would be a long line of kisses to come.

* * *

Here's the finale. Gotta say this has been exhausting for me. I do not deal well with deadlines, even self imposed ones when I have genuine reason for missing the original one.

Hope you enjoyed!


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